This is a kind of demonstration that I love to see done on a computer. It's very
much like the game of life (which is linked to from the page); a system that
would take quite a lot of die rolling if you did it physically, but can be
easily viewed via automation. It's fascinating to watch how the exact same
initial conditions can produce radically different results-- and it's handy
for observing the fact that even a small change in probability can make a big,
big difference in result in a large enough system.

I personally find chaos to be a fascinating topic, but almost all the lesson
plans I've found (including the one attached to this lesson) pretty much say
"This is chaos!", then stop. Granted, this type of chaos is a GREAT corollary to
a unit on probability, but I don't think I've ever seen a followup lesson for
after chaos theory. Anyone know of any I can steal?

This material is based upon work supported by the
National Science Foundation under Grant DUE-0226284.
Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations
expressed in this material are those of the author(s)
and do not necessarily reflect the views of the
National Science Foundation.